The inventive concepts described herein are generally related to a data storage device, and more particularly to a data storage device including semiconductor memories as a main storage device and a method of storing data thereof.
With the advent of information age, there is an ever-increasing demand for higher data storage capacities and densities in digital data storage devices. Due to increase of this demand, various kinds of personal data storage devices have been developed. Among the many kinds of data storage devices, hard disk drive (HDD) has been widely used in digital processing systems because of high recording density, high data transmission rate, fast data access, and low cost. A HDD includes a platter and complex mechanical components to drive the platter. The HDD has potential disadvantages that its mechanical operation makes it vulnerable to vibration, impact, and mechanical wear/fatigue.
Recently, a semiconductor disk device, which is called a solid state disk (SSD), has been introduced as an alternative to the HDD. The SSD employs semiconductor memories, such as nonvolatile memory devices including flash memories, etc. The SSD does not include the platter and complex mechanical components that are needed in the HDD. Accordingly, compared to the HDD, the SSD can reduce the operating time and latency that are inevitable in operation of the HDD, and consequently enable high speed read and write operations. In addition, the SSD improves reliability of read and write operations because the SSD can avoid errors that could be caused by mechanical operations like friction and wear. Furthermore, the SSD is substantially noiseless and generally does not produce heat. Compared to HDD, the SSD thus has a good reputation as a data storage device suitable for portability.